As someone that celebrates the fact that I’m a Millennial and as the author of the upcoming book “A Millennial Mindset” I have some things I want to explain for those of all ages! Today is my Dad’s 65th birthday and I figured what better time than to break down my thoughts on respecting elders, reverse mentorship, respect vs blind following and why all four generations in the current workforce are to blame for the current disconnect.

First off: HAPPY 65th BIRTHDAY DADDIO, you can finally get that senior coffee at McDonalds that you’ve been looking forward too for years!

Now for episode 26 of my podcast FOMOFanz I decided to hit this topic straight on focusing not at pointing fingers at one generation of the other rather pointing fingers at all generations and hopefully helping them become self aware that we individually are the problem.

I often find myself as the “Millennial Mentors” for those in my community under the age of 35 while I also I find myself as the “token millennial” in many high level business discussions with GenX and Baby Boomer clients. The one way to really get me fired up or jumping out of my seat, well let’s face their are lots of ways, but in this case is starting off a conversation with “Them” or believing that based on one data variable (The year someone was born) they all believe and act the same way.

In my upcoming book due out later this year, I breakdown the Future Of Work persona’s into two buckets:

Digital Dinosaurs

Lack TRUST or belief in digital solutions and are scared of digital change because of the unknown and/or having a mindset that we’ve always done it this way and it’s working why change now.

Digital Natives

Trust that digital change is happening at a pace we’ve never witnessed in our lifetimes and digital when implemented correctly opens our world to amazing possibilities around community and collaboration.

For the bases of this podcast episode I decided to focus less on the Dinosaurs vs Natives and more on the: “Been There Done That vs Doing It Now and Will Soon Do It Better.”

On this episode I discuss:

My Dad’s influence on me around respecting my elders, never burning bridges and how I’ve transferred his “handshake – look someone in the eye” sales strategy into my digital mindset.

The megaphone mob mentality of many today when it comes to believing because they have tools that allow the world to hear them doesn’t mean the world cares.

Managing- Up and the value and importance in having EMPATHY when it comes to managing and working with those older than you.

Reverse-Mentorship and the value of two parties coming together to share knowledge that is beneficial for each.

The role collaboration will play in business success in the future and if we only focus on collaboration between millennials and GenZ the business is guaranteed to fail.

What it means to respect your elders or those that will eventually replace you without having to blindly follow whatever they say or let what they’ve done impact or change what you want to accomplish.

My Rant (Only available on the Podcast Recording)

Customer Experience….. Why do we keep settling for less than what we give when it comes to companies we’ve given loyalty too.